What made America great was people fleeing political and religious persecution in their own countries around the world. When People made it to America, the real battle for survival began. Most didn't make it and died on the ships that were supposed to carry them to unprecedented freedoms in the new land of America.

None of them came to take anything away from the natives but to carve out a living in a huge mostly unsettled land. That unsettled land would destroy millions that survived that deadly ocean voyage. Those who managed to survive nature had no free ticket but had to survive on their own and create their own reality to sustain themselves and their families. Some people banded together and formed communes but most went off on their own. No matter if in a commune or alone their existence depended on their own ingenuity. Everyone was motivated by the need to stand on their own and survive man, beast and mother nature, who were out to get them at every turn. It was that kind of fortitude that is the foundation of America which became the envy of the world due to its massive wealth created mostly by free individuals who had no choice but to make something of themselves.

We've come a long way baby, from those days. Now we have nanny (welfare) states that insist we never venture alone, never walk on your own two feet but must be coddled and taken care of my big government. The same big government that has yet to be successful at doing anything right. In fact, by the 1960s America was plagued by massive public housing projects that were nothing short of breeding grounds for the unprecedented crime wave that destroyed most large cities in America. Which in turn created the suburbs by the millions of people fleeing inner-city insanity. The public schools were another great example of how bad big government was and is. Trillions of tax dollars invested in schools every year gave America the worst educated children in much of the free world.

We can all agree that the welfare state came out of compassion and a bleeding heart of sympathy for those struggling to survive, all good intentions. But the system was doomed to create a crutch, a safety net that guaranteed sustainably not only for the original people on the program but also for their many generations of children and grandchildren who have no incentive to ever get off the public dole.

Now millions of people are stuck in the hellish conditions of government meddling in their lives by providing them a stress-free existence in that ever turning merry-go-round of "good intentions." Which by-the-way is far more stressful than standing on your own two feet and making something worthwhile out of your life. An old saying says it best, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."